Wallabies player Quade Cooper has been targeted by the NZ and international press for weeks as "Public Enemy No. 1". While no-one ever wants to place blame for a team loss entirely on one player, he well and truly lived up to that reputation last night in the Wallabies defeat against the too-powerful All Blacks. His performance was disappointing, to say the least.
Yes, there are 15 players on the field, but his position is integral to the team dynamics. Cooper's form in the tournament has been sub-par at best. Whether he was rattled by the pressure, out of form or over-confident and cocky, the Aussie coach Robbie Deans should have recognised this and reacted quickly. From the opening second of last night's match, it was clear there wag going to be no magic from Cooper. Just more mistakes and yet more pointless kicking away of possession. What a shame. It was 80 minutes of torture for Wallabies fans.
And that's not taking anything from the All Blacks for their victory. It kills me to say it, but they deserved it 100%. We were thoroughly outplayed all over the park. Now Gregan's famous taunt can be used on us: "four more years".
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